Ghanaian startup Truckrtech has emerged as the winner of one-million naira ($2700) in equity-free funding at the 2019 edition of TechCircle’s Pitch2Win competition.
The startup, which has an online marketplace for listing and booking of third-party trucks, emerged as the winner yesterday at a pitching event at The Impact Hub in Lagos, which saw 10 startups compete against one another (see the full list in this story).
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The competition was run by Techcircle, in partnership with Japan’s FreakOut Holdings, to find the most disruptive startups in Nigeria, and give them local and international investment opportunities.
Founded last year by Caryl Joshua Akonor, Truckrtech gives real-time visibility, cargo-in-transit insurance and proper communication channels to shippers and drivers.
Ghana’s Truckrtech has won one million naira in equity-free funding at TechCircle’s Pitch2Win competition
Akonor said in a statement yesterday that following a pilot between January and April, the startup last month commenced with full operations.
“Between May and June, we’ve done $12,000 in revenue. We can look to 15% month on month revenue increase with this funding from Pitch2Win,” he said.
The runner-ups were Asusu, a SaaS startup digitising the financial activities of low income and daily earners, and Prodigy, a school management software based in Nigeria.
Techcircle founder Oo Nwoye noted in the same statement that all the startups that pitched were “exceptional”. He added that the opportunity it gave for all participants to tell their own stories and connect to a pool of investors was “more than satisfactory”.
“We had investors fly in from Japan, scouting for young emerging businesses to help scale and its amazing they got what they came for.
“I am particularly happy for the winning startup. The founder took a bold step to fly in from Ghana, and thankfully, his self-belief brought a positive outcome,” said Nwoye.
Said Freakout Holdings CEO Yuzuru Honda: “This is a great event and it’s amazing to be part of it. This is my first time in Nigeria and I am very excited about the energy of young startups in this space. We are definitely look to doing more”
The judges included Greentree Capital Investments Ola Brown, Reliance HMO’s Femi Kuti, Freakout Holdings’ Yuzuru Honda, Lateral Capital’s Babara Iyayi and M&S partners’ Hiro Mashita.
Read more: Here are the 10 startups that will pitch for one million naira at Impact Hub today
Featured image (left to right): Dr Ola Brown of Flying Doctors, FreakOut’s Yuzuru Honda, M&S Partners’ Taro Fukuyama, Truckr co-founder Caryl Joshua Akonor, M&S Partners’ Hiro Mashita, TechCircle’s Oo Nwoye, RelianceHMO’s Femi Kuti and Element’s Barbara Iyayi (Supplied).
